Software engineering intern Review

Every morning, I have standup with the team that I am working in. After I catchup with a mentor to discuss in more detail about what I am going to do for the rest of the day, I also ask questions and ask for help if I need any. The rest of the day consists of working through my tasks for the day, fixing bugs in my project, developing new features and everything in between. I take a few breaks during the day in which I catchup with my peers or other members of the team.

I have discovered what it takes to work in the real world. Skills learnt at university does not always translate directly in the real world, working in an environment where products have a real impact and mistakes cost time and money. The scale of the systems I worked on at my time at Bloomberg was also entirely different to the ones I worked on at university. I improved my presentation skills as that is the main way of communicating complex ideas to other people, I have also improved the cleanliness of my code, always keeping in mind that it will be read and even maintained by others.

I was given lots of responsibility during my placement. I was given an individual project which I was responsible for. My mentor allowed me to make mistakes so i could understand for myself how to do things better which has helped massively in my personal development. I was able to make nearly all the decisions for this project myself with a little bit of help from my mentor, and team members. The team trusted my decisions on such an important project which just shows the amount of responsibility i was given

Throughout the placement, I was given as much support and guidance I needed, at times I was too quick to ask for help and my mentor guided me to learn and try by myself. This guidance has allowed me to develop massively and much more than I would've if my mentor has just answered my questions. Not only did i receive support and guidance from my mentor but from others in the team and even people outside the team.

Company has a great work life balance, everyone is super social and this is evident from our pantry, it is the perfect place to catchup with peers and team members as well as to meet new people. Everyone is super friendly and just wants to help, the company promotes transparency as is evident by the amount of glass used throughout the office, making it feel super open and welcoming. Loved the general atmosphere and company culture

I enjoyed my placement a lot, it allowed to learn what software engineering is really like in the real world, not only that but allowed me to grow to be an better software engineer. The placement has not only improved my technical skills but also my soft skills in the form of presenting and communicating complex and technical ideas with team members. I am super satisfied with my placement and definitely recommend to anyone thinking of joining

Yes

Dont be afraid to try out new and scary technologies when picking projects, the one regret I have is choosing a safe project, safe in the sense that I knew almost all the tools I was using. You should take the placement as a chance to learn new things not just get better at the things you already know, you will be suprised by the amount of support you get from the people at bloomberg.